Phillip Lifschultz: 1927 - 2006

Retiree was always eager to work again

January 07, 2007|By Matthew Walberg, Tribune staff reporter.

The man kept trying to retire, but he just loved to work, so he kept un-retiring.

Phillip Lifschultz had a corporate career, specializing in taxes at Arthur Andersen & Co. and Montgomery Ward & Co., and a political career, serving as chairman of the Civic Federation of Chicago and in other community and state organizations.

"He retired several times," said his wife, Edith. "But he loved being involved in all these things. Most people would be very harried and feel a lot of pressure, but he never did. He just enjoyed every minute of it, and he missed it very much after he retired. When I moved him out here to Las Vegas, he kept wanting to move back to Chicago."

Born in Oak Park and raised in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, Mr. Lifschultz was in the pre-med program at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana when he was drafted into the Army in 1945 and stationed in California.

Upon his discharge in 1946, he decided to study finance and in 1949 graduated with honors from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in accounting, his wife said.

After a few years working as a certified public accountant, he enrolled at John Marshall Law School, graduating in 1956.

He then was hired as an accountant in the tax department at the accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

"He became a manager very fast," his wife said. "He was in charge of all the major retailers, like Marshall Field and Montgomery Ward."

He was vice president of taxes at Montgomery Ward & Co. from 1963 to 1978 and then financial vice president and comptroller at Henry Crown & Co. until 1981.

In his spare time, he participated in numerous groups. He was chairman of the advisory board to the auditor general of Illinois from 1965 to 1973, a member of the Standard Club for nearly 50 years and chairman of the Civic Federation of Chicago from 1980 to 1982. Additionally, he was the Executive Service Corps of Chicago's project director for projects involving the Chicago Board of Education and the state from 1980 to 1987.

He also was a member of numerous civic and business organizations, including the Chicago Bar Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Despite his hectic work schedule, Mr. Lifschultz followed local and national politics closely.

"He was intensely interested in the political scene. He was sending money all over the country for various campaigns, to MoveOn and the Democratic National Committee and to candidates he thought needed help," his wife said.

Though the couple had little time for TV, they loved to attend movies or go to the theater.

"We liked foreign films and films with substance to them," his wife said. "We loved all the experimental theaters, like Victory Gardens and Northlight in Chicago. We always had time and money for theater."

The couple married in 1948 and lived in Glencoe from 1953 to 2000. They first met as children in Sunday school at the Washington Boulevard Temple.

"We knew one another, and we started dating after he came back from the service. One day, his mother said, `Why don't you take out that nice little Leavitt girl?' And then my mother said to me, `Guess who called today? Phillip Lifschultz.' And I said, `Well, what does that kid want?'"

Although their first date wasn't all that memorable, "he kind of grew on me," she said.

"I respected him and I admired him for who he was and what he did. He was a good husband and a good father. We were married 58 years, and there are always ups and downs and goods and bads. But we loved each other and we worked well together."

Other survivors include a son, Gregory; two daughters, Bonnie Sand and Jodie Sullivan; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.